The Big Ten Conference (B1G), formerly Western Conference and Big Nine Conference, is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division I; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport. The conference includes the flagship public university in each of 11 states stretching from New Jersey to Nebraska, as well as two additional public land grant schools and a private university. The Big Ten Conference established itself almost 120 years ago as the premiere collective of academic institutions in the country when, in 1896, then–Purdue University president James H. Smart and representatives from the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and University of Wisconsin gathered at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago to set policies aimed at regulating intercollegiate athletics. In 1905, the conference was officially incorporated as the "Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association".[1] The conference uses the "B1G" character combination in its branding, noting that it "allows fans to see 'BIG' and '10' in a single word."[2]

Big Ten member institutions are predominantly major flagshipresearch universities that have large financial endowments and are well-regarded academically. Large student enrollment is also a hallmark of Big Ten universities, as 12 of the 14 members feature enrollments of 30,000 or more students. Northwestern University, one of just two full members with a total enrollment of fewer than 30,000 students (the other is the University of Nebraska at Lincoln), is the lone private university among Big Ten membership. Collectively, Big Ten universities educate more than 520,000 total students and have 5.7 million living alumni.[3] Big Ten universities engage in $9.3 billion in funded research each year.[4] Though the Big Ten existed for nearly a century as an assemblage of universities located primarily in the Midwest, the conference now has a geographic footprint which spans from the state of Nebraska in the west to the Atlantic Ocean in the east.

^Fencing is officially a coeducational team sport, although a few schools field only a women's team. Ohio State and Penn State, like most NCAA fencing schools, have coed teams, while Northwestern fields only a women's team.

^The only category of rowing that the NCAA governs is women's heavyweight rowing. Women's lightweight rowing, as with all men's rowing, is governed by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.

^Unlike rifle, pistol is not an NCAA-governed sport. It is fully coeducational.

^Rifle is technically a men's sport, but men's, women's, and coed teams all compete against each other. Nebraska fields a women-only team, and Ohio State fields a coed team.

^Synchronized swimming is not governed by the NCAA. Collegiate competition is governed by United States Synchronized Swimming, the sport's national governing body.

The first reference to the conference as the Big Nine was in 1899 after Iowa and Indiana had joined. Nebraska first petitioned to join the league in 1900 and again in 1911,[58] but was turned away both times. In April 1907, Michigan was voted out of the conference for failing to adhere to league rules.[59]Ohio State was added to the conference in 1912. The first known references to the conference as the Big Ten were in November 1917 after Michigan rejoined after a nine-year absence.[60][61][62]

The conference was again known as the Big Nine after the University of Chicago decided to de-emphasize varsity athletics just after World War II. Chicago discontinued its football program in 1939[63] and withdrew from the conference in 1946 after struggling to obtain victories in many conference matchups. It was believed that one of several schools, notably Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Michigan State, Marquette, Notre Dame, and Iowa State would replace Chicago at the time.[64] On May 20, 1949,[57] Michigan State ended the speculation by joining and the conference was again known as the Big Ten. The Big Ten's membership would remain unchanged for the next 40 years. The conference’s official name throughout this period remained the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives. It did not formally adopt the name Big Ten until 1987, when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation.

Big Ten logo (1990–2011). To reflect the addition of the 11th school, Pennsylvania State, the number 11 was disguised in the negative space of the "Big Ten" lettering.

In 1990, the Big Ten universities voted to expand the conference to 11 teams and extended an invitation to Pennsylvania State University, which accepted it.[65] When Penn State joined in 1990, it was decided that the conference would continue to be called the Big Ten, but its logo was modified to reflect the change; the number 11 was disguised in the negative space of the traditionally blue "Big Ten" lettering.

Missouri had shown interest in Big Ten membership after Penn State joined.[66] Around 1993, the league explored adding Kansas, Missouri and Rutgers or other potential schools, to create a 14-team league with two divisions.[67] These talks died when the Big 8 Conference merged with former Southwest Conference members to create the Big 12.

Following the addition of previously independent Penn State, efforts were made to encourage the University of Notre Dame, the last remaining non-service academy independent, to join the league. Early in the 20th century, Notre Dame briefly considered official entry into the Big Ten but chose instead to retain its independent status.[68] However, in 1999, both Notre Dame and the Big Ten entered into private negotiations concerning a possible membership that would include Notre Dame. Although the Notre Dame faculty senate endorsed the idea with a near-unanimous vote, the school's board of trustees decided against joining the conference and Notre Dame ultimately withdrew from negotiations. [1] Notre Dame subsequently joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports except football, in which Notre Dame was permitted to maintain its independent status as long as it played at least five games per season against ACC opponents. The treatment of football was believed to be the major stumbling block to Notre Dame joining the Big Ten, as Notre Dame wished to keep its ability to sign a separate television broadcasting contract with NBC, while the Big Ten insisted upon a full membership with no special exemptions.

In December 2009, Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league was looking to expand in what would later be part of a nationwide trend as part of the 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment.[69] On June 11, 2010, the University of Nebraska applied for membership in the Big Ten and was unanimously approved as the conference's 12th school, which became effective July 1, 2011.[70] The conference retained the name "Big Ten."

On September 1, Delany revealed the conference's divisional split and announced the new division names on December 13, 2010: Legends and Leaders. In the Legends division were Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. The Leaders division was composed of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Conference officials stated that they had focused on creating competitive fairness rather than splitting by geographical location.[71] The new "Legends" and "Leaders" names were not met with enthusiasm. Some traditional rivals, including Ohio State and Michigan, were placed in separate divisions.[72] For the football season, each team played the others in its division, one "cross-over" rivalry game, and two rotating cross-divisional games. At the end of the regular season the two division winners met in a new Big Ten Football Championship Game.

On November 19, 2012, the University of Maryland's Board of Regents voted to withdraw from the ACC and join the Big Ten as its 13th member effective on July 1, 2014.[73] The Big Ten's Council of Presidents approved the move later that day.[74] One day later, Rutgers University of the Big East also accepted an offer for membership from the Big Ten as its 14th member school.[75]

On April 28, 2013, the Big Ten presidents and chancellors unanimously approved a divisional realignment that went into effect when Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014.[76] Under the new plan, the Legends and Leaders divisions were replaced with geographic divisions.[76] The West Division includes Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin (of which all but Purdue are in the Central Time Zone), while the East Division includes Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers. The final issue in determining the new divisions was which of the two Indiana schools would be sent to the West; Purdue was chosen because its West Lafayette campus is geographically west of Indiana's home city of Bloomington.[77] In the current divisional alignment, the only protected cross-divisional rivalry game in football is Indiana–Purdue.[76] As before, the two division winners play each other in the Big Ten Football Championship Game.

On June 3, 2013, the Big Ten announced the sponsorship of men's and women's lacrosse. In order for any conference to qualify for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the conference needs at least six member schools playing that sport. In women's lacrosse, the addition of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten brought the conference up to the requisite six participants, joining existing programs at Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Penn State.[78] In men's lacrosse, Ohio State and a new program at Penn State were the only existing participants. Coincident with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, Michigan agreed to upgrade its successful club team to varsity status, giving the Big Ten five sponsoring schools, one short of the minimum six for an automatic bid. Johns Hopkins University opted to join the conference as its first affiliate member beginning in 2014. Johns Hopkins had previously been independent in men's lacrosse for 130 years, claiming 44 national championships.[79] As long-time independents joined conferences (for example, Syracuse joining the Atlantic Coast Conference), other schools competing as independents were in some cases coming to the conclusion that the inability to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament was becoming a more serious competitive disadvantage in scheduling and recruiting.

In 2012, the conference announced it would move its headquarters from its current location in Park Ridge, Illinois to neighboring Rosemont by the end of 2013. The new office building is situated within the Rosemont Financial District, alongside Interstate 294. The move into the building was finalized on October 14, 2013.[80][81][82]

The office of the commissioner of athletics was created in 1922 "to study athletic problems of the various member universities and assist in enforcing the eligibility rules which govern Big Ten athletics."[56]

The Big Ten Conference is known for its commitment to academic excellence as well as its proud athletic tradition. Eleven of the thirteen public schools in the Big Ten (Purdue and Nebraska excepted) are considered "Public Ivies"[83] (although Purdue is often ranked in the top half of the Big Ten and many of its programs are in the top ten nationally).[84][85] Each Big Ten institution (Nebraska excepted) is a member of the American Association of Universities and is ranked in the US News & World Report top-100 and the Times Higher Education top-200.[86] Nebraska joined the AAU in 1909 but was removed in April 2011 when the AAU disallowed University of Nebraska Medical Center data points to be included in the AAU formula and began to decrease the weight given to agricultural research. Commissioner Jim Delany stated that Nebraska's removal from the AAU would have no bearing upon their Big Ten membership. Nebraska does, however, lead the NCAA with a record of 314 Academic All-Americans (followed by Notre Dame with 221).[87][88] Currently, no Division I conference is composed exclusively of AAU members. However, the University Athletic Association, a Division III conference is composed of entirely AAU members.

All Big Ten members are, along with charter member the University of Chicago which withdrew from the conference in 1946, part of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium which allows students at Big Ten institutions to take distance courses at other participating institutions.[89] Students at participating schools are also allowed "in-house" viewing privileges at other participating schools' libraries.[90] The CIC also employs collective purchasing, which has saved member institutions $19 million to date.[91]

The schools below are listed by conference rank of total revenue. Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/ground, maintenance, utilities and rental fees and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues and insurance costs. Surplus (or deficit) is calculated using the total revenue and total expenses data provided by USA Today, individual institutions and the United States Department of Education.[92]

The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an annual award given by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the U.S. colleges and universities with the most success in collegiate athletics. Big Ten universities typically finish ranked in the top-50 of the final Directors' Cup annual rankings.

^ Nebraska won 80 conference championships as a member of the Big 12 Conference, second most in Big 12 history. Nebraska also won 230 conference championships as a member of the Big 8 Conference, the most in Big 8 history.

When Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014, the division names were changed to "East" and "West", with Purdue and the six schools in the Central Time Zone in the West and Indiana joining the remaining six Eastern Time Zone schools in the East. The only protected cross-division game will be Indiana–Purdue. Beginning in 2016, the Big Ten will adopt a nine-game conference schedule.[77][101]

† Ohio State was awarded the Leaders Division in 2012. However, they were ineligible to participate in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Game.[102] Due to Penn State also being ineligible, Wisconsin was selected to participate and went on to defeat Nebraska, 70–31.

Since 1946, the Big Ten champion has had a tie-in with the Rose Bowl game. Michigan appeared in the first bowl game, the 1902 Rose Bowl. After that, the Big Ten did not allow their schools to participate in bowl games, until the agreement struck with the Pacific Coast Conference for the 1947 Rose Bowl. From 1946 through 1971, the Big Ten did not allow the same team to represent the conference in consecutive years in the Rose Bowl with an exception made after the 1961 season in which Minnesota played in the 1962 Rose Bowl after playing in the 1961 Rose Bowl due to Ohio State declining the bid because of Ohio State faculty concerns about academics. Due to their "Rose Bowl or bust" policy, the 1972, 1973 and 1974 Michigan squads did not play in bowl games despite posting 10 wins in each season.

It was not until the 1975 season that the Big Ten allowed teams to play in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl. Michigan, which had been shut out of the postseason the previous three years, was the first beneficiary of the new rule when it played in the Orange Bowl vs. Oklahoma. Due to the pre-1975 rules, Big Ten teams such as Michigan and Ohio State have lower numbers of all-time bowl appearances than powerhouse teams from the Big 12 Conference (previously Big Eight and Southwest Conferences) and Southeastern Conference, which always placed multiple teams in bowl games every year.

Starting in the 2014–2015 season, a new slate of bowl game selections will include several new bowl games.[103]

† The Big Ten, along with the SEC, will be eligible to face the ACC representative in the Orange Bowl at least three out of the eight seasons that it does not host a semifinal for the Playoff over a 12-year span. Notre Dame will be chosen the other two years if eligible.

‡ The Big Ten and ACC will switch between the Music City and TaxSlayer bowls on alternating years.

^ The Big Ten and Big 12 will switch between the Heart of Dallas and Armed Forces bowls on alternating years.

Although the pick order usually corresponds to the conference standings, the bowls are not required to make their choices strictly according to the won-lost records; many factors influence bowl selections, especially the likely turnout of the team's fans. Picks are made after CFP selections; the bowl with the #2 pick will have the first pick of the remaining teams in the conference.

For all non-College Football Playoff partners, the bowl partner will request a Big Ten team. The Big Ten will approve or assign another team based on internal selection parameters.

When not hosting a semifinal, the Capital One Orange Bowl will select the highest-ranked team from the Big Ten, SEC or Notre Dame to face an ACC opponent. The Big Ten Champion cannot play in the Orange Bowl. If a Big Ten team is not selected by the Orange Bowl, the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl will submit a request for a Big Ten team.

The Outback, Foster Farms and Holiday Bowls will feature at least five different Big Ten shools over the six-year agreement (through 2019 season). The Music City and Taxslayer Bowl will coordinate their selections allowing only one to pick a Big Ten team. The Big Ten will make appearances in three of each bowl games over the term of the agreement (through 2019 season).

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl will feature a minimum of six different Big Ten teams over the eight-year agreement (through 2021 season).

All Big Ten member schools have marching bands which perform regularly during the football season. Ten of fourteen member schools have won the Sudler Trophy,[112] generally considered the most prestigious honor a collegiate marching band can receive.[113] The first three Sudler trophies were awarded to Big Ten marching bands—Michigan (1982), Illinois (1983) and Ohio State (1984).[112] The Big Ten also has more Sudler Trophy recipients than any other collegiate athletic conference.[112]

The Big Ten has participated in basketball since 1904, and has led the nation in attendance every season since 1978.[114] It has been a national powerhouse in men's basketball, having multiple championship winners and often sending four or more teams to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Previous NCAA champions include Indiana with five titles, Michigan State with two, and Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State with one each. Maryland, which joined the Big Ten in 2014, won one NCAA championship as a member of the ACC.[115][116] Ohio State played in the first NCAA tournament national championship game in 1939, losing to Oregon. Despite this, Jimmy Hull of Ohio State was the first NCAA tournament MVP. The first three tournament MVPs came from the Big Ten (Marv Huffman of Indiana in 1940 and John Katz of Wisconsin in 1941).

Big Ten teams have also experienced success in the postseason NIT. Since 1974, 13 Big Ten teams have made it to the championship game, winning nine championships. Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota have won two NIT championships, while Indiana, Penn State, and Purdue have won one each. Two other current members, Maryland and Nebraska, won NIT titles before they joined the Big Ten. In addition, the Helms Athletic Foundation recognizes Illinois as the 1915 National Champions, Minnesota as the 1902 and 1919 National Champions, Northwestern as the 1931 National Champion, Purdue as the 1932 National Champions, and Wisconsin as the 1912, 1914 and 1916 National Champions. Former member Chicago won a post-season national championship series in 1908.

Since 1999, the Big Ten has taken part in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge with the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC holds a 10–4–2 record against the Big Ten; Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio State, Purdue, and Rutgers are the only Big Ten schools without losing records in the challenge.

The Big Ten fields seven of the remaining fifteen Division I men's gymnastics teams. In 2014, Michigan edged out Oklahoma for their 6th NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship, the school's third in five years.[118]

At the conclusion of each regular season schedule the coaches of each Big Ten team, as well as a media panel, vote which players they choose to be on the three All-Conference Teams:[121] first team, second team and rookie team. Additionally they vote to award the 5 individual trophies to an eligible player at the same time. The Big Ten also awards a Tournament Most Outstanding Player which is voted on after the conclusion of the conference tournament. Each team also names one of their players to be honored for the conference Sportsmanship Award. All of the awards were created for the inaugural season (2013–14).

With the addition of Johns Hopkins and Maryland to the league, Big Ten men's lacrosse boasts two of the top programs and most heated rivals in the history of the sport. Johns Hopkins (28) and Maryland (22) combine for 50 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Final Four appearances. The media and both schools have called Johns Hopkins–Maryland rivalry the greatest and most historic rivalry in men's lacrosse. Since 1895, the two teams have matched up more than 100 times.[123][124][125]

Women's lacrosse became a Big Ten-sponsored sport in the 2015 season. The Big Ten women's lacrosse league includes Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers. Big Ten women's lacrosse programs have 20 of the 33 all-time NCAA championships, including nine of the last ten. Maryland has won 11 NCAA national championships, including seven straight from 1995 to 2001 and most recently in 2014. Northwestern has claimed seven NCAA titles, including five straight from 2005 to 2009. Penn State has earned three pre-NCAA national titles and two NCAA titles in 1987 and 1989.

The members of the Big Ten have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. Each school has at least one traveling trophy at stake. The following is a list of active rivalries in the Big Ten Conference with totals & records through the completion of the 2013 season.

From 1993 through 2010, the Big Ten football schedule was set up with each team having two permanent matches within the conference, with the other eight teams in the conference rotating out of the schedule in pairs for two-year stints. Permanent matches were as follows:[citation needed]

Illinois: Indiana, Northwestern

Indiana: Illinois, Purdue

Iowa: Minnesota, Wisconsin

Michigan: Michigan State, Ohio State

Michigan State: Michigan, Penn State

Minnesota: Iowa, Wisconsin

Northwestern: Illinois, Purdue

Ohio State: Michigan, Penn State

Penn State: Michigan State, Ohio State

Purdue: Indiana, Northwestern

Wisconsin: Iowa, Minnesota

This system was discontinued after the 2010 season, as teams became grouped into two divisions, and would play all teams in their division once, with one protected cross-over game, and two games rotating against the other five opponents from the opposing division.

Most of the above permanent rivalries were maintained. By virtue of the new alignment, a handful of new permanent divisional opponents were created, as all pairs of teams within the same division would face off each season. Furthermore, three new permanent inter-divisional matches resulted from the realignment: Purdue-Iowa, Michigan State-Indiana, and Penn State-Nebraska. The following past permanent matches were maintained across divisions: Minnesota-Wisconsin, Michigan-Ohio State, and Illinois-Northwestern.

The new alignment, however, caused some of the above permanent rivalries to be discontinued. These were: Iowa-Wisconsin, Northwestern-Purdue, and Michigan State-Penn State. These matchups would continue to be played, but only twice every five years on average. More rivalries could be disrupted, or some resumed on a yearly basis, when the league realigns into East and West Divisions for the 2014 season with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers. The two new schools will be placed in the new East Division with Penn State, and the two Indiana schools will be divided (Indiana to the East and Purdue to the West). With the move to a nine-game conference schedule in 2016, all cross-division games will be held at least once in a four-year cycle except for Indiana–Purdue, which will be the only protected cross-division game.[76]

Three Big Ten teams—Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan—had rivalries in football with Notre Dame. After the University of Southern California with 35 wins (including a vacated 2005 win), the Michigan State Spartans have the most wins against the Irish, with 28. The Purdue Boilermakers follow with 26, and Michigan ranks fourth all-time with 24.

Penn State has a longstanding rivalry with Pittsburgh of the ACC, but the two schools have not met since 2000. However, the Penn State-Pittsburgh rivalry will be renewed with an alternating home-and-home series from 2016 to 2019. Penn State also has long histories with independent Notre Dame; Temple of The American; Syracuse, and Boston College of the ACC; and West Virginia, of the Big 12 Conference. Additionally, Penn State maintains strong intrastate rivalries with Patriot League universities Bucknell in men's basketball and men's lacrosse, and Lehigh in wrestling. Most of these rivalries were cultivated while Penn State operated independent of conference affiliation; the constraints of playing a full conference schedule, especially in football, have reduced the number of meetings between Penn State and its non-Big Ten rivals.

Iowa has an in-state rivalry with Iowa State of the Big 12, with the winner getting the Cy-Hawk Trophy in football. Iowa and Iowa State also compete annually in the Cy-Hawk Series sponsored by Hy-Vee (as of 2011 this series is now sponsored by The Iowa Corngrowers Association), the competition includes all head-to-head regular season competitions in all sports. Iowa also holds rivalries in basketball with the state's other two Division I programs, Drake and Northern Iowa.

Indiana has an out-of conference rivalry with Kentucky of the SEC (see Indiana–Kentucky rivalry). While the two schools played in football for many years, the rivalry was rooted in their decades of national success in men's basketball. The two no longer play one another in football, but their basketball rivalry continued until a dispute about game sites ended the series after 2011. In the last season of the rivalry (2011–12), the teams played twice. During the regular season, then-unranked Indiana defeated then-#1 ranked Kentucky 73–72 at Assembly Hall. The Wildcats avenged the loss in the NCAA tournament, defeating Indiana 102–90 in the South Regional final in Atlanta on their way to a national title.

Minnesota men's ice hockey has a prolific and fierce border rivalry with the University of North Dakota. The two teams played annually between 1948 and 2013 as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association prior to the inception of the Big Ten Conference. The rivalry will resume in 2016 in non-conference action.

In the early days of the Big Ten, the Chicago-Michigan game was played on Thanksgiving, usually with conference championship implications and was considered one of the first major rivalries of the conference.

Also in the early days of the conference, and at Knute Rockne's insistence, Northwestern and Notre Dame had a yearly contest, with the winner taking home a shillelagh, much like the winner of the USC-Notre Dame and Purdue-Notre Dame contests now receive. The Northwestern-Notre Dame shillelagh was largely forgotten by the early 1960s and is now solely an element of college football's storied past.[127]

The Big Ten is home to two of the top-10 largest on-campus basketball arenas in the country: Ohio State's Value City Arena and Maryland's XFINITY Center. Additionally, arenas at Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Penn State rank among the top-20 largest on-campus basketball facilities in the United States. The Big Ten Conference features more on-campus basketball arenas with seating capacities of 15,000 or more than any other conference in the country.

Big Ten Network was created in 2006 through a joint partnership between the Big Ten and News Corporation and debuted the following year, replacing the ESPN Plus package previously offered to Big Ten markets via syndication. Based in downtown Chicago, the network's lineup consists exclusively of Big Ten-related programming, such as a nightly highlights show, in addition to live events.[129]

^"Big Ten Conference Reveals New Logo and Honors Football History with Division Names and Trophies". Big Ten Conference. Retrieved 2 April 2014. The new Big Ten logo was developed to symbolize the conference's future, as well as its rich heritage, strong tradition of competition, academic leadership, and passionate alumni," said Gericke. "Its contemporary collegiate lettering includes an embedded numeral "10" in the word "BIG," which allows fans to see "BIG" and "10" in a single word. Memorable and distinctive, the new logo evolved from the previous logo's use of negative space and is built on the conference's iconic name, without reference to the number of member institutions. The new logo also provides the flexibility of multiple versions which can be used horizontally, vertically and within new media.)

^Big Ten Medal of Honor Winners Announced. June 8, 2011. Big Ten Conference official website. Retrieved 2011-09-09. "The award was established in 1914 .... In 1982, [it] was expanded to include a senior female athlete from each institution."